This made things interesting for a bit between the L.A. Kings and Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.

Down two goals just before the midway point of the third period, Kings’ defenseman Drew Doughty blasted a slap shot from center ice on Oilers goalie Richard Bachman. The puck somehow squeezed through Bachman’s legs, into the net, getting the desperate Kings back within a goal in a crucial game for the defending champs.

It wasn’t enough, however, as the Oilers held on for the 4-2 win, putting the Kings on the brink of elimination from playoff contention.

Richard Bachman will return to the Edmonton net tonight when the Oilers host the playoff-hungry Kings at Rexall.

Bachman, who’s been away from the team following the death of his brother, will look to regain the form shown in his last two starts — a 29-save effort in a 4-1 win over Colorado, and a 29-save shutout in a 4-0 win over Dallas.

But it won’t be easy.

The Kings absolutely crushed the Oilers two games ago, lighting up Ben Scrivens and ECHL recall Tyler Bunz in a 8-2 victory. It marked the first time in five years L.A. scored eight goals in a game, prompting Oilers forward Jordan Eberle to lash out at his team’s performance.

“That was embarrassing,” Eberle said. “They treated us like a junior team. They pushed us around.

“You’re a professional hockey player. You have to be able to push through whatever it is, or there will be guys who will take your spot.”

No word yet on who’ll start for L.A. Jonathan Quick played last night in Vancouver and fared well, stopping 37 of 38 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss.

Back in December, Edmonton GM Craig MacTavish got a little heated while trying to defend the woeful Oilers. Less than a week later head coach Dallas Eakins was fired. Edmonton didn’t see an immediate or dramatic uptick once Todd Nelson took over as the team’s bench boss, but they have an opportunity to finish on a high note thanks to their current 5-1-1 stretch.

“First and foremost, it’s a pride thing, so it doesn’t matter where you are in the standings, losing is never fun. There are a lot of guys playing for contracts, playing for a lot of different things,” goaltender Richard Bachman noted to the Edmonton Journal. “We want to show people we are coming together as a team and that we are trending in the right direction.”

Bachman, along with fellow Oilers goaltender Viktor Fasth, is among those that are scheduled to test the unrestricted free agent waters this summer. There certainly are plenty of players on Edmonton playing for contracts or trying to make a strong impression to help themselves ahead of the 2015 training camp. Beyond that though, as Bachman said, there’s also a need for Edmonton to prove that there is a light at the end of this tunnel. That breaking up this core isn’t the franchise’s only possible path to success.

Not that they can accomplish that with a handful of strong weeks at the end of the season. The Oilers have struggled for far too long to get the benefit of the doubt by going on a winning streak long after they’ve been eliminated from the playoffs. Still, the Oilers seem upbeat and perhaps that’s a start.

“I feel that the atmosphere in the dressing room has changed since I was last in here,” defenseman Brandon Davidson said, who was previously summoned in December. “That’s a big part of it. Guys are having fun doing things the right way.

“We don’t have a playoff, but for us, this is everything, especially for most of us going into next year.”

Whether or not this is a sign of things to come for Edmonton in 2015-16, one thing we can say is that this hot streak has hurt their chances of winning the Connor McDavid sweepstakes.

“I’m sure there’s a whole group of fans hoping for us to lose, but we’re having fun winning,” said Oilers forward Taylor Hall. “Game 1 or Game 75, it is still fun to go out there and win — and we’re playing good teams, teams that have full lineups and teams that are chasing playoff spots. … I know I’m having a really good time with (Miller and Anton Lander). We play hard and we play with energy.”

The Flames will start Jonas Hiller for the second time in as many nights on Monday when they take on the Stars in Dallas.

Hiller went nearly two weeks without a start before Flames head coach Bob Hartley gave him the nod yesterday in Nashville, and Hartley’s decision proved a wise one; Hiller stopped 27 of 29 shots in a crucial 5-2 victory, pushing Calgary past L.A. for third place in the Pacific Division.

Prior to Hiller taking the net, Karri Ramo was the Flames’ goalie of record in five straight games, going 2-1-2 over that stretch.

For the Stars, Kari Lehtonen is likely to be back in goal after stopping 33 of 36 shots in an OT win over Vancouver on Saturday.

Richard Bachman, who started his pro career in the Dallas Stars organization, may have dealt his former team a major blow to its playoff hopes on Friday.

Now with the Edmonton Oilers, Bachman stopped all 29 shots he faced, and the Oilers shut out the Stars 4-0 in a costly loss for Dallas, which had been red-hot coming into this game.

The Stars are now down to seven games remaining in their schedule. They had won four straight prior to Friday and were trying feverishly to get into the race, even at the last minute. Now they’re eight points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the final Wild Card spot in the West.

They gave up a goal to Jordan Eberle and the Oilers 33 seconds into the game. The Stars continued to put the pressure on Bachman but couldn’t score.

That came back to haunt the Stars.

The Oilers broke the game wide open with three goals in the final 11 minutes of regulation time. Andrew Miller, 26 years old and playing in his fifth career NHL game, scored his first ever NHL goal on a penalty shot to cap the win for Edmonton.